This application makes reference to, incorporates the same herein, and claims all benefits accruing under 35 U.S.C. xc2xa7119 from my application A PORTABLE COMPUTER HAVING EXTERNAL ANTENNA filed with the Korean Industrial Property Office on Jan. 31, 2001 and there duly assigned Serial No. 4577/2001.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile computer, and more particularly to a mobile computer having an external antenna which is able to wirelessly communicate with peripheral devices.
2. Related Art
Of mobile computers, a portable computer which is most widely used has many hardware devices and wires incorporated in a small space. Also, peripheral devices such as a keyboard, a mouse, a speaker, a printer, a personal computer (PC) camera, etc. are typically connected to the portable computer by means of cables. Accordingly, there is a problem that an area in the vicinity of the portable computer is usually always complicated and not desirable in appearance.
Recently, wireless data communication techniques which are able to wirelessly communicate data between a computer and peripheral devices have been developed. Of the wireless data communication techniques, typical examples of such techniques used in a short distance wireless data communication are infrared data association (IrDA), wireless LAN (IEEE802.11), shared wireless access protocol (SWAP) which is preparing a standard specification by xe2x80x9cHomeRFxe2x80x9d founded in March, 1998, bluetooth, etc., for example.
Of the above mentioned techniques, the bluetooth technique has several advantages compared with the other techniques. In case of applying the bluetooth technique, all digital devices including a computer, a keyboard, a mouse, a printer, a scanner etc., for example, can be wirelessly connected with each other and wirelessly operated.
When a bluetooth module is used in a portable computer, an antenna for transmitting and receiving data is required. However, as the portable computer is minimized as to the space it occupies and is lightened for convenience of mobility, it is very difficult to obtain space for disposing the antenna in the portable computer.
It is an object, among other objects, of the present invention to provide an improved mobile computer on which and from which can be easily mounted and separated an external antenna.
The above and other objects are provided, according to the present invention, by a mobile computer including an external antenna which is able to wirelessly communicate with peripheral devices. The mobile computer of the present invention includes a main body, a display portion or display device connected with the main body, a wireless communication module disposed in the main body, an antenna for transmitting data to and receiving data from the wireless communication module, contact means for electrically connecting the antenna with the wireless communication module, and mounting means for mounting the antenna on the display portion or display device.
In the present invention, the wireless communication module is desirably any of a bluetooth module and an infrared data association (IrDA)module, for example.
In the present invention, the contact means includes a first contact terminal connected electrically to the wireless communication module and exposed at a side of the display portion, and a second contact terminal disposed on the antenna for contact with the first contact terminal. The second contact terminal includes an elastic spring or is elastic spring shaped terminal. Also, the wireless communication module is connected to the first contact terminal by means of a coaxial cable, for example.
In the present invention, the mounting means includes at least one groove formed on a side of the display portion adjacent to the first contact terminal, and at least one projection formed on the antenna to be respectively inserted into the at least one groove. The projection includes a hook or is a hook shaped projection.